Snapshot, Pulaski County, Kentucky 2022 | Page 36

FARM DEFINITION

A farm is “ any place from which $ 1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold , or normally would have been sold , during the year .” Government payments are included in sales . Ranches , institutional farms , experimental and research farms , and Indian Reservations are included as farms . Places with the entire acreage enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program ( CRP ), Wetlands Reserve Program ( WRP ), and other government conservation programs are counted as farms . The definition of a farm was first established in 1850 and has changed nine times since . The current definition was first used for the 1974 Census . Point Farms are places that did not have $ 1,000 of reported sales for the year , but had sufficient crops and livestock to normally have sales of $ 1,000 or more .

The number of farms in the United States for 2021 is estimated at 2,012,050 , down 6,950 farms from 2020 . The number of farms increased in all sales classes except $ 1,000- $ 9,999 , $ 100,000- $ 249,999 , and $ 1,000,000 or more . In 2021 , 51.0 percent of all farms had less than $ 10,000 in sales and 81.5 percent of all farms had less than $ 100,000 in sales . In 2021 , 7.4 percent of all farms had sales of $ 500,000 or more .

Total land in farms , at 895,300,000 acres , decreased 1,300,000 acres from 2020 . The biggest change for 2021 is that producers in Sales Class $ 1,000 - $ 9,999 operated 640,000 fewer acres than in 2020 . In 2021 , 30.1 percent of all farmland was operated by farms with less than $ 100,000 in sales , while 40.9 percent of all farmland was operated by farms with sales of $ 500,000 or more .

The average farm size for 2021 is 445 acres , up from 444 acres the previous year . Average farm size increased in the $ 1,000,000 or more sales class and decreased or remained unchanged in all other sales classes .

There are over 1,700 farms in Pulaski County and almost all of them are cattle farms and most are over 50 acres . In 2017 , the market value of farm products sold from Pulaski County farms was over $ 55 million . Pulaski County sold the 10th highest market value of cattle in Kentucky and ranks in the top 22 % among U . S . counties . In 2017 , Pulaski County had over 66,000 head of cattle and the combined surrounding counties had over 180,000 head . Somerset is home to the Lake Cumberland Livestock Market , which has sales every Saturday . In addition , the nearby cities of Russell Springs and Stanford each have stockyards with weekly sales .

Pulaski County High School and Southwestern High School feature active Future Farmers of America chapters with a total of 350 student participants .

Approximately 1,500 students are involved in 4-H programs across the County and 50 students are involved in hands-on livestock programs . The 4-H Horse Club and four horse associations are also active organizations in the community .

SOURCES : www . nass . usda . gov , www . klc . org

Number of Farms , Land in Farms , and Average Farm Size – Kentucky : 2020-2021

Economic Sales Class $ 1,000 - 9,999

Number of Farms 2020 43,800 2021 43,200

Land in Farms ( 1,000 acres ) 2020 3,000 2021 2,900

Economic Sales Class $ 10,000 - $ 99,999

Number of Farms 2020 24,100 2021 24,300

Economic Sales Class $ 100,000 - $ 249,999

Number of Farms 2020 3,000 2021 3,000

Economic Sales Class $ 250,000 - $ 499,000

Number of Farms 2020 1,400 2021 1,450

Economic Sales Class $ 500,000 - $ 999,999

Number of Farms 2020 1,000 2021 50

Economic Sales Class $ 1,000,000 or more

Number of Farms 2020 1,200 2021 1,200

Average farm size ( acres ) 2020 2,000 2,000

Pulaski County Kentucky

Average farm size ( acres ) 2020 133 2019 133

SOURCE : usda . library . cornell . edu

36 2022-2023 Pulaski County snapshot l a special publication of the Commonwealth Journal